Ken Wyatt

Meet Educator Kenneth Wyatt

Sr. EMC Engineer, Wyatt Technical Services, LLC

A prolific author and presenter, Ken has written or presented topics including RF amplifier design, RF network analysis software, EMC design of products and use of simple tools for EMC troubleshooting. He has been published in magazines such as Electronic Design, HP Journal, Safety & EMC (China), In Compliance, Interference Technology (ITEM), Microwave Journal, RF Design, Test & Measurement World and several others. Kenneth is a senior member of the IEEE and a long time member of the EMC Society where he serves as their official photographer. He is also a member of the dB Society and is a licensed amateur radio operator.

ICM: What led to your commitment to becoming an educator in your field?

Ken: I’ve always had a passion for teaching technical subjects to my peers and others in the field. I started writing for hobby and technical magazines while still in college (mid-1970s) and am convinced those published articles got my foot in the door for my first engineering job once I graduated. After I joined Hewlett-Packard, I took an EMC engineering course through a local university, based on Clayton Paul’s book, “Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility”. I was really fired up afterward and taught an internal course based on what I had learned. After Agilent Technologies spun-off from HP, I taught a weekly web-based course over a period of nine months to Agilent engineers worldwide. This eventually became a two-day Practical EMC Design seminar I taught throughout Agilent Technologies worldwide. Because I had developed this course on my own time, Agilent management supported my taking the course public. After I retired in 2008, I’ve had the opportunity to teach the course all around the country and really get a kick out of helping so many other companies with this “niche” subject.

ICM: What do you hope attendees will leave your class having learned?

Ken: My target audience – Analog, RF, Mechanical and Digital hardware design engineers will benefit from this course. A basic engineering background (BSEE or equivalent) is generally suggested. One thing that differentiates my seminars with others is that I try hard to teach the theory on a practical level, so that the essential basics are understood. I also include many interesting demonstrations of the concepts taught. The learning objectives for the participants include the ability to:

• Analyze, measure, troubleshoot and solve an EMC problem in more detail
• Understand theory from a more in-depth view and understand causes of the top EMC issues: radiated emissions and electrostatic discharge
• Make or purchase simple low-cost bench top troubleshooting tools
• Perform simple evaluation and pre-qualification tests to ensure likeliness of compliance

I’m still looking for host test labs on the east and west coasts, so check my web site for the latest news (www.emc-seminars.com).

Meet more educators….